Skynet, a revolutionary artificial intelligence system built by Cyberdyne Systems, is in its infancy. As scientists and engineers frantically rush to complete last minute trial runs prior to their presentation to SAC and NORAD, a highly trained guerilla force quietly closes in on the Cyberdyne testing facility, deep in the remote wilderness of Washington state. Hired by a rival corporation based outside of the United States, the guerilla fighters have been tasked with capturing the Cyberdine facility and stealing key pieces of technology including the source code for Skynet and information on the "Terminator Program."

The first T-800 model of the Terminator class has just completed production and is in the process of being linked up with Skynet for the first time ahead of the upcoming demonstration. The uplink of the Terminator's functionality is interrupted by the sudden assault of the guerilla fighters and renders the T-800 functional, though not fully controllable by Skynet for the defense of the corporation. Both Cyberdyne sercurity personell and the guerilla fighters quickly realize that manual control of the Terminator can be managed from the testing lab of the facility, thus turning the T-800 into a fully functional weapons platform for whomever controls the lab.

Now, Cyberdyne security must hold off the assault on their own until military reinforcements can reach the remote testing facility. The guerillas will fight desperately to obtain the information that they need and escape before this happens.